Corruption exists because there is too much, not too little, market.
Ha-Joon Chang, in Bad Samaritans (2008), Prologue, p. xxv
History shows that, at earlier stages of economic development, corruption is difficult to control. The fact that today no country that is very poor is very clean suggests that a country has to rise above absolute poverty before it can significantly reduce venality in the system.
Ha-Joon Chang, in Bad Samaritans (2008), Ch. 8: Zaire vs Indonesia, Should we turn our backs on corrupt and undemocratic countries?, Prosperity and honesty, p. 151
I have nothing against the smell of rot but something against what hides the smell of rot in the United States of America."
Giannina Braschi, "United States of Banana," (2011).
Thieves at home must hang; but he that puts
Into his overgorged and bloated purse
The wealth of Indian provinces, escapes.
William Cowper, The Task (1785), Book I, line 736